Maitland Regional Art Gallery (MRAG) will celebrate a significant milestone in 2025, marking 50 years as a cultural hub of art, community and connection on Wonnarua Country.
To mark the occasion, the Gallery will host a community birthday celebration on Saturday 29 November, welcoming guests from across the Hunter to join the festivities.
Maitland Regional Art Gallery Director, Gerry Bobsien said the celebration marks 25 years of a gallery that has always had art, community and connection at its heart.
“We are proud of what MRAG has achieved over the past 50 years. The strong feedback we receive from visitors highlights the vital role a cultural hub like MRAG plays in supporting wellbeing and fostering connection across the community,” Gerry said.
“In 2024, MRAG welcomed more than 120,000 visitors, a reflection of the Gallery’s growing popularity and its contribution to keeping Maitland vibrant, connected and thriving.”
MRAG’s story began with the Maitland Art Prize, first held in 1957, which paved the way for a permanent gallery. After years of community advocacy, the Maitland City Art Gallery officially opened at Brough House on Church Street on 19 April 1975, with Margaret Sivyer OAM as its founding director.
The Gallery has grown in step with Maitland and in 2003 moved to its current home on High Street, a heritage-listed building designed by government Architect, Walter Liberty Vernon. Major renovations followed, and the Gallery reopened in 2009 by the late celebrated artist Margaret Olley AC.
“MRAG is a welcoming art institution with community at its core, and is much loved in Maitland, across the Hunter and nationally,” Gerry said.
“This anniversary provides an opportunity to celebrate MRAG’s rich history and significant collection, while recognising the strong connections built with artists, and local and First Nations communities.”
As part of the 50th anniversary program, MRAG will present Shared, a major exhibition featuring works collected and gifted to the Gallery over the past five decades along with the launch of a new art book for kids produced by MRAG.
IMAGE | Maitland Regional Art Gallery celebrates 50 years.
